Devolvement (Kabbalah)

Kabbalah

The Hebrew word for devolvement, hishtalshelut, has the same root as the Hebrew word leshalshel, which means to lower, and shalshelet, chain. The devolvement, or hishtalshelut, represents the levels or stages of the creation of the world, beginning from the source, Ein Sof Himself, and culminating with the physical world. This series of stages is compared to a linked metal chain, in which each link is connected to its adjoining links above and beneath it. Similarly, each level of reality is linked with the level above it, as well as the level below it, like a series of links in a chain.

Sources

so it was in the devolvement of the worlds. All four levels, which are “world,” “year,” “soul,” and their maintenance, were in the world of Atzilut. They all emerged and their imprint was impressed and revealed in the world of Beria, and similarly from the world of Beria to the world of Yetzira, until the world of Asiya.

Talmud Eser HaSefirot, Introduction 399

The aforementioned devolvement in which the will to receive is brought into its final form in this world follows the order of the four levels that correspond to the four letters of the four-letter name of God (the Tetragrammaton). For the four letters of the Tetragrammaton, yod-heh-vav-heh, encompass all of reality without excluding even the most minute particle.

Petichah LeChokhmat HaKabbalah 3:1

This occurred in a way that all three levels the in the existence before us, termed “world,” “year,” “soul,” with their maintenance, are arranged before our eyes, here in this world. They were drawn forth and revealed here from the world of Yetzira, and Yetzira from that which is above it, in such a way that the source of all of these many details before our eyes are in the world of Atzilut. Not only that, but even those innovations that are innovated and come into being today in this world…

Talmud Eser HaSefirot, Introduction 400

Additionally, the four letters of the divine name correspond to the four worlds, which are Atzilut (Emanation), Beria (Creation), Yetzira (Formation), and Asiya (Actualization). The world of Asiya includes this world within it. Thus there is no creature in this world that is not engendered from Ein Sof, blessed be He, meaning it is rooted in the initial intent for the Creation, which is to give His creations pleasure, as stated above…

Petichah LeChokhmat HaKabbalah 3:3

The reason that the will to receive devolves by means of the aforementioned four levels, Atzilut (Emanation), Beria (Creation), Yetzira (Formation), and Asiya (Actualization), is due to an important principle that applies to the vessels: It is the expansion of the light and its subsequent removal that renders the vessel suitable for its function. This means that as long as the vessel has not been separated in any way from its light…

Petichah LeChokhmat HaKabbalah 4:1

137. From the description of this process of devolvement, you can understand that the holy Torah, which is infinitely lofty, did not emanate and emerge from before Him the way it appears before our eyes here in this world. As known, “the Torah and the Holy One, blessed be He, are one” (Zohar Aharai Mot 299), yet this is not visible at all in the Torah of this world.

Talmud Eser HaSefirot, Introduction 379

There is a devolving of reality in its generations of cause and effect, such as, for instance, the devolving of the heads of the generations, from Adam to Joshua and Caleb, who entered the Land of Israel, as recorded in the Torah. In this devolving, the father is categorized as the cause of the son, who is the effect brought about through him. This aspect of reality called the devolvement of the details of existence through cause and effect, is termed “year.”

Talmud Eser HaSefirot, Introduction 396

136. In order to understand this, we must know that God’s ways are not our ways. It is our way to go from the incomplete to the complete, whereas it is from His way that all revelations flow to us, from their state of completeness to a state of incompleteness. In the initial emanation from God, that which emerges is totally complete, and that completeness descends from before Him and devolves in constriction after constriction, through a number of stages until it comes to the final, most constricted stage…

Talmud Eser HaSefirot, Introduction 378

Relatedראו גם

Ein Sof (Kabbalah)

Traces (Kabbalah)

Atik (Kabbalah)

Arikh Anpin (Kabbalah)

Level (Kabbalah)

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